Last May, the International Space Station welcomed two Arab astronauts: Ali a-Qarni, a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot, and researcher Rayyanah Barnawi, first woman from that country to travel into space. The curious thing, that the first man to achieve that milestone was a prince, Sultan bin Salman.
Sultan bin Salman bin Absulaziz Al Saud, such his full name, he opened the doors of space to world royalty, donning the NASA uniform.
The prince flew on board of the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-G, as cargo specialist, from June 17 to 24, 1985.
The inspiration to travel to space came to him in 1969, with the arrival of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon, on NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. At that time, the prince was 13 years old.
“Humans made airplanes and made advances in industry,” bin Salmán said. In an interview with Arab News, for the 50th anniversary of humanity’s arrival on the Moon. “But for humans to leave their own planet… that really was something else.”
The Arab prince’s trip to space
Sent by his family to study in the United States, he also learned to fly planes, obtaining his license in 1977.
With the birth of Arabsat, the Arab League’s first satellite communications company, the Saudi prince’s interest in space travel grew. By February 1985, the first satellite of the region was put into orbit: it was Arabsat-1A, deployed thanks to an Ariane 3 rocket.
![The first prince in space: the story of Sultan bin Salman Sultan bin Salman and his companion, the Frenchman Patrick Baudry](https://www.fayerwayer.com/resizer/4RsE54-yJs7jEQGBW8kQKr1cwao=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/metroworldnews/RVRJC7OXTJD2NCJ7BFGYJONVIY.jpg)
The Arab League received the invitation for one of its members to carry the second satellite, Arabsat-1B. Sultan bin Salman requested to be.
After 10 weeks of training, the pilot prince became a NASA astronaut.
After taking off from Florida, where he was accompanied by a delegation of 200 people, the Arab prince was seven days, one hour, 38 minutes and 52 seconds in space, completing 111 orbits to Earth.
“A Gift from Allah”
“When you see the Earth from space, then you begin to be aware that this is a gift from Allah, and that there is more to you and your little community than your own limited passions,” bin Salman later reflected.
“Your care and passion for things become more global, more universal”.
Being also the first Muslim in space, bin Salman brought the Koran, the holy book of Islam, reading it for a good part of the journey.
Currently, close to turning 67 years of age, Prince Sultan bin Salman is Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.